Tag: Oakland

Golden State Warriors post game wrap: Warriors without Durant and Curry can’t stop Kings on home floor 110-106

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Sacramento Kings’ Willie Cauley-Stein lays up a shot against Golden State Warriors’ Kevon Looney (5) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — On a night when the Warriors played without Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, they were not able to overcome their absence and lost 110-106 to the visiting Sacramento Kings. The two teams played a very close and entertaining game, and the final outcome was in doubt for the entire 48 minutes. Warriors coach Steve Kerr started Patrick McCaw in place of Curry, and Omri Casspi filled in for Durant. McCaw played very well He tallied 16 points, seven assists, three rebounds, one blocked shot, and four steals. Klay Thompson led the team in scoring, and he knocked down five three-point shots, but he missed a three at the end of the game that would have won it for the Dubs.

The Kings, coached by Dave Joerger, probably played their best game of the year. The Kings are not known as a good shooting team, but shot 53% from the floor and made nine three-point shots as they upset the Warriors. The Kings had five players in double figures, and the stats will show how even the game was.

Both teams played well in the first quarter as the first 12 minutes ended with the teams tied at 27. With Sacramento leading by a point (36-35), the Dubs went on an 11-2 run to lead 46-38. The Kings refused to wilt and clawed their way back to finish the first half trailing by two (55-53). McCaw and Thompson led the Warriors with nine points each. Nick Young gave the Dubs a boost as he poured in eight. The Kinds were led by Zach Randolph and Garrett Temple. The Kings’ bench of Bogdan Bogdanovich, Willy Cauley-Stein, Buddy Hield, and Frank Mason III all made contributions to the Kings’ offense.

In the third quarter, it appeared that the Warriors had found their mojo as they were able to take a seven-point lead (76-69). The Kings were not to be denied. They continued to attack the Warriors’ defenses and went on a 9-0 run at the end of the period to take the lead 83-82. They increased the lead to six (90-84), but David West made a two-point shot, and Andre Iguodala connected on a three to tie the game at 92. The Warriors increased the lead to five (106-101), but the Kings tied the game at 106 with 1:43 left in the game. The Kings took the lead for good when they scored a bucket with 12.6 seconds left to play. The Warriors had a chance, but Thompson missed the shot, and the Warriors had to foul. The two free throws were made to seal the victory for Sacramento.

Game notes and stats — The Warriors shot 50% from the floor and made 16 three-pointers, but it wasn’t good enough. The Kings shot 53% from the floor, and they made nine threes. The Kings had seven more free throws and outscored the Dubs by seven in that department. The Warriors recorded 31 assists, which indicated the team had good ball movement. The Kings had 27. Rebounds were even. The Warriors had nine steals and six blocks while the Kings had seven steals, and they too, had six blocked shots.

The Warriors’ scoring leaders were Thompson with 21, McCaw with 16, Green with 14, Iguodala with 11, Livingston with 10, Casspi with nine, D. West with eight, and Young with eight.

The Kings’ Cauley-Stein had a terrific game. His line was 19 points, six assists, eight rebounds, and two blocked shots. George Hill had four threes and ended the night with 16. Temple had 14, Randolph had 11, Skal Labissiere had nine, and Frank Mason 14.

The Warriors embark on their longest road trip of the year when they meet the L.A. Lakers Wednesday night. They then go to Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Charlotte and finish the trek in Detroit.

Game time for Wednesday’s game with the Lakers is at 7:30 pm PT.

Warriors extend win streak to two with 110-95 win over Pelicans

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Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, left, drives the ball away from New Orleans Pelicans guard Rajon Rondo during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Nov. 25, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. The Warriors won, 110-95. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By: Ana Kieu

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 110-95 at Oracle Arena Saturday night.

The Warriors came off a massive 143-94 blowout win over the Bulls, while the Pelicans came off a standard 115-91 blowout win over the Suns. However, the Bulls and Suns were both struggling teams to say the least. Tonight’s matchup between the Warriors and Pelicans wasn’t as lopsided in terms of the standings.

Prior to the tip-off, Pelicans guard Ian Clark received a championship ring from the Warriors.

The Pelicans overwhelmed the Warriors in the first quarter. The Pelicans were 5-7 from the three-point line, while the Warriors were just 1-5. The fast-break points were in favor of the Pelicans (9-0). The Pelicans outscored the Warriors 31-17 at the end of the first quarter.

After an unsatisfactory opening quarter, the Warriors outscored the Pelicans 36-22 to even the score at 53 apiece at the half. The Warriors’ offense put on a show for rapper and Vallejo native E-40, who was spotted in the audience at the Oracle Arena tonight.

Here are the halftime stats: Klay Thompson with 16 points and made four of six three-pointers, Omri Casspi with seven points and two blocks, Andre Iguodala with seven points and four assists, David West with six points, Steph Curry five points and five assists, Shaun Livingston with four points, Draymond Green with two points, four rebounds and three assists, Zaza Pachulia with two points and three rebounds and Kevon Looney with two points and three rebounds.

The Warriors started the second half on the right foot as they took the lead on a 6-0 run and never looked back. Also, the Warriors’ Twitter account retweeted a tweet from ESPN, who said their alternate jerseys are fire.

The Warriors led the Pelicans 84-75 at the end of the third quarter.

The Warriors continued to dominate in the fourth quarter. Livingston completed a three-point play to put the Warriors up 95-83 with 8:48 left in the game. The Warriors then went on a 8-0 run that was nice while it lasted.

The Warriors finished the home game with a 110-95 win over the Pelicans. Curry led the Warriors with 27 points, four rebounds and six assists. Thompson recorded 24 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and two boards. Pachulia scored 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and three steals. Casspi scored nine points, four rebounds and two assists. Green scored six points, seven rebounds, eight assists and two steals. Iguodala had 14 points and four assists. Livingston had seven points and two rebounds. West had six points, two rebounds and two assists. Looney had three points and five rebounds.

Notes
Warriors’ injury update: Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) is out for tonight’s game against the Pelicans. Andre Iguodala (sore left knee) is probable.

The Warriors debuted their Statement alternate uniforms, featuring “The Town” logo.

Last night, Jameer Nelson, Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins combined for 21 of the Pelicans’ 29 assists with eight, seven and six, respectively.

Pelicans’ injury report: Alexis Ajinca (right knee injury), Solomon Hill (left hamstring tear) and Frank Jackson (right foot fracture).

Up Next
The Warriors host the Kings on Monday, November 27 at 7:30 pm PST.

The Pelicans host the Timberwolves on Wednesday, November 29 at 7 pm CST.

Felix King Again at O.Co as M’s top A’s 8-3

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

OAKLAND, Calif. – Yogi Berra wasn’t at O.Co Coliseum, but one couldn’t help but think of him following the A’s 7-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners. It was, as the Yankee legend famously said, “déjà vu all over again” following a dominant performance from Seattle starter Felix Hernandez.

Hernandez crafted a 6-hit, three-run masterpiece in his first appearance at O.Co since a July 4th loss that snapped 13 straight starts in Alameda County without a loss. The Phenom of the Pacific Northwest threw 102 pitches, including 72 strikes to handcuff the A’s offense over 8 innings. Where Felix was dominant, A’s starter Jesse Chavez was not.

Chavez (7-14, 4.17 ERA) was tagged early, tagging the righty for 5 runs over the first three innings. Seattle (65-71) chased the Oakland starter with no outs in the third one batter after surrendering the fourth and fifth runs on a Logan Morrison home run to right center. Morrison also plated a run in the first, part of a three-run inning. The M’s collected three hits and two walks in the first frame parade of baserunners.

“It seems like, in games where he doesn’t have his fastball,” said Melvin. “It seems like his cutter, fastball and changeup are pretty close in velocity. He probably only threw 7 or 8 curveballs which means he didn’t have an effective curve.”

Melvin didn’t believe it was an issue of stamina for Chavez, who has spent the majority of the season starting after mostly spot starts and short tenures as a starter in his career.

Arnold Leon, coming on in relief after Chavez’s brief outing, didn’t fare much better. He surrendered a solo home run to Shawn O’Malley, the first of the Mariners left fielder’s major league career, with no outs in the 5th and was tagged for a second run on a run-scoring base-hit by designated hitter Mark Trumbo in the 6th. The Mariners added another run in the 7th on a two-out single off R.J. Alvarez by Kyle Seager.

Hernandez (16-8, 3.65) stifled the Athletics, as he so often has in his career, The King added to his court a 22 career win against the A’s, running his record against the Green and Gold to 22-8 over 39 starts.

Hernandez cruised through the first three innings, allowing only one baserunner, a Stephen Vogt single over the first third of the game while picking up 4 punch-outs.

Oakland finally managed to string together some base hits against the six-time All-Star in the 4th. First baseman Mark Canha launched his 12th homer of the season, reversing Hernandez’ offering to put Oakland on the board. The M’s ace managed to retire the next two batters, but yielded three-straight two-out hits capped by Billy Butlers two-run single to cut the Mariners lead to 6-3 at the time.

Hernandez would rebound from the hiccup, allowing only one hit over the next 4 innings while striking out another 4 batters. He faced the minimum number of batters over the final 5 frames, doubling off Butler after his 7th inning single. Joe Beimel allowed a single in the ninth, but kept the A’s off the board to seal Hernandez’ victory.

The A’s (58-78) have now dropped to a season-worst 20 games below the .500 mark. Oakland currently sits four wins back of the Tigers with the lowest mark in the American League. If they want to stay ahead of the Phillies at 53, they’ll need Sunday’s starter Sean Nolin to avoid the sweep against Hisashi Iwakuma.

“We’re basically down 4 of 6 guys from where we started this season,” said Melvin on his rotation after the trade of Scott Kazmir and injuries to starters like Kendall Graveman, Jesse Hahn. “There’s significance to that. For some of the newer guys it’s an opportunity to make a mark.”

Nolin, a piece in the Josh Donaldson trade with Toronto in the offseason, will be making his major league debut against the international sensation who threw a no-hitter in early August. The labor of winning won’t be any lighter on Labor Day with the A’s welcoming the division-leading Astros to O.Co for a three-game set.

Semien’s Blast Backs Bassitt to First Win With Oakland

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

OAKLAND, Calif. – It had been nearly a year since Oakland Athletics starter Chris Bassitt knew what it was like to see a W next to his name in the Sporting Green the day after one of his starts. It was a feeling he’d only experienced once in his two-year, 16-game major league career. Halfway through his 11th career start, this time coming against the Baltimore Orioles at O.Co Coliseum, it looked like the youngster would be waiting a little longer.

Orioles Hurler Miguel Gonzalez shut out the A’s for four innings Tuesday night, yielding only one hit before the Oakland offense roughed him up for five runs in the 5th and 6th innings combined. Marcus Semien launched a three-run homerun, Brett Lawrie hit a run-scoring triple and Billy Burns picked up an RBI single to support a near-flawless Bassitt (1-4, 2.64 ERA) earn a 5-0 win.

“I don’t really care about ERA, I don’t care about stats,” said Bassitt. “I just care about wins. I don’t care about anything else. I don’t look at any stats. I can tell you what my record is and that’s it. As for runs, I don’t care if it’s one, zero or eight as long as we win.”

Bassitt authored a standout performance, throwing a season high 104 pitches over 7 innings to handcuff the vaunted Orioles (54-52) offense. Bassitt came two pitches shy of matching his career high, 106, set last season in his first start of the year August 20th against the Tigers. The 26-year-old righty struck out seven Birds, besting a career-high most recently set in his previous outing against Cleveland.

“He’s a really intense kid out there,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “Since he’s been in the rotation, you see each and every time he goes out there he’s more and more confident.”

Bassitt’s only other win at the major league level also came in a 7-plus inning performance. Before joining the A’s in the Jeff Samardzija trade this offseason, Bassitt helped the Pale Hose to a 2-0 win over the Detroit Tigers, firing 7 2/3 innings of scoreless ball on September 22nd.

When asked how he felt about getting the win, Bassitt had only one word to describe it. “Relief.”

Bassitt scattered only 5 hits, allowing a single Baltimore baserunner to reach third base. Slugger Chris Davis was the only one to get 90 feet from scoring, opening the 2nd inning with a double. Bassitt froze Davis after catcher Matt Wieters roped a liner right into Brett Lawrie’s glove. Davis moved to third on a bounce out by J.J. Hardy but was stranded after Bassitt punched out Jimmy Paredes to escape the jam.

“Thank god for Stephen Vogt,” said Bassitt of his battery mate for the night. “Take all the credit and give it to him. I was really fast tonight and he just knew how to slow me down.”

The Orioles would again put a runner on 2nd base with one out in the next inning, but Manny Machado bounced out to Lawrie. Proving he is no worse for wear in his second game back from a lengthy DL stint, Coco Crisp stole a line drive basehit from Gerardo Parra with a diving catch to save what would have been the go ahead run.

“Coco is back,” said Bassitt emphatically.

“I said all along it’s going to be tough for him not to dive,” said Melvin of his left fielder. “He only plays one way.”

Heading in to the 5th, the A’s had managed only one hit and three baserunners against the stingy Gonzalez. They found an opportune time to piece together a two-hit inning, with Eric Sogard ripping a one-out double down the right field line to start the rally. After Marcus Semien struck out swinging, the rookie leader in hits Billy Burns came up to the plate looking for the clutch hit that proved elusive to the A’s over the previous four innings.

Burns delivered his 98th base knock, flicking a soft liner into shallow center field. O’s outfielder Adam Jones corralled the ball and fired a seed to home plate hoping to cut down Sogard at the plate. The ball took an Oakland bounce off the back side of the mound, allowing Sogard to come around easy for the 1-0 lead.

The next inning, the A’s struck again off Gonzalez after Billy Butler opened the inning with a ground-rule double. After an Ike Davis grounder to third for the first out, Brett Lawrie sat on a Gonzalez fastball, crushing a triple to the wall in left center field to put the A’s up 2-0 and stick Gonzalez (9-8. 4.32) with the loss.

Reliever Chaz Roe kept Lawrie stranded at first by coaxing a strikeout from Mark Canha before brining Sogard to the plate with two down. Showalter elected to issue the free base, presumably Sogard’s first in his major league career, to bring Semien to the plate.

“Both of us were a little surprised,” said Semien of his and his fellow keystoner Sogard’s reaction. “I don’t think he knew till he looked behind him.”

Semien responded to Showalter’s slight, mashing his 10th homerun of the season over the wall in left center. Semien’s dinger handed Bassitt a comfy 5-0 lead heading into the final three innings.

“Sometimes you can get a little too fired up,” said Melvin. “But after you hit a homer it’s nice.”

The Fernandos, Rodriguez and Abad, each tossed a scoreless inning to ensure Bassitt’s scoreless start would stand intact and give the A’s (48-60) their third win in four games.

The A’s could pull off the series win against an Orioles team just one game back of the second Wild Card with a win in Wednesday’s series finale. Kendall Graveman takes the mound in the matinee match-up, squaring off against Wei-Yin Chen.

On Eve of His Return to Oakland, Revisiting the Josh Donaldson Trade

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

When Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson steps into the O.Co Coliseum batter’s box for the first time as a visiting player against Kendall Graveman Tuesday night, it will be a moment months in the making.

The earth has long since stopped shaking since a ground shattering trade that saw A’s general manager sned the Oakland A’s most feared slugger in exchange for Graveman, starting third baseman Brett Lawrie and prospects Sean Nolin and Franklin Barreto in the offseason. That doesn’t mean the wound won’t still be fresh for A’s fans.

Donaldson has put up similar stats North of Border to the ones he produced for four seasons in Oakland, which is to say he’s been MVP-caliber for the Jays. Donaldson is fresh off his second-straight All-Star game appearance, hitting second for the American League in its 6-3 victory over the Senior Circuit Squad in Cincinnati.

The 29-year old is hitting .288 for the season after 92 games, is one shy of the AL lead in runs batted in with 62 and sits five homers back of Mike Trout’s 27 for the league lead in long balls. Not bad for a player making only $4.5 million dollars.

On its exterior, the trade looks like a clear win for the Jays, who added a power bat to line-up already loaded with thumpers like Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Russell Martin. But the return for Donaldson hasn’t exactly been failing the A’s.

If Cy Young Awards were handed out in Spring Training, Graveman would have been a candidate. The 24-year-old righty owned the desert competition, going 3-1 with a miniscule 0.36 earned run over 25 1/3 innings. If they handed out the awards in April, he’d probably have been last on the list. Graveman compiled an 8.27 ERA, walking 9 while striking out only 7 over 16 1/3 innings. It was clear that Graveman wasn’t ready for the major leagues just yet, so a return to Triple A Nashville was in the cards for the young hurler.

Perhaps not. Graveman returned to the parent club in late May, and has been lights out ever since. In ten starts, he’s gone at least 5 2/3 innings every time. He’s allowed only 16 runs in his second tour of duty, and had managed to shrink his ERA to 3.16 prior to his last outing where he was touched up for 4 runs. He’s ERA since returning is sub-3.00. More importantly, he’s only walked 18 while punching out 44 batters.

While Brett Lawrie, the other main piece of the trade, hasn’t produced like Donaldson did, no one has asked him to. Lawrie, a former first round pick (16th overall in 2008), hasn’t lived up to the hype that followed him before he even played a professional game, but he hasn’t been a slouch either.

The Langley, British Columbia native is on track for career-highs in most offensive categories including homers (current 8, high 12), RBI (37, high 48) and most importantly for the oft-injured Canadian, games played (88, high 125). While he won’t match his rookie season batting average of .293 over 43 games in 2011, he’s on pace to best his full-season high of .273. The right-handed batter enters play Tuesday with a .280 mark. While he hasn’t been outstanding, he’s been better than expected.

Factor in Barreto, named to the MLB.com weekly all-prospect team, and Nolin still being at least a season away and the A’s could wind up being big winners in this trade. They may not feel like it now, but a rotation with Nolin and Graveman at the head and Barreto and Lawrie on the left side of the infield winning an AL West title, and possibly even the pennant, may be on the horizon soon. But first comes Tuesday night, a chance for the A’s to top the Jays and win a little victory.

Hahn Sidelined Longer Than Expected As Oakland Opens Second Half

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

The Oakland Athletics might know their fate as buyers or sellers when the trade deadline comes sooner than they’d imagine. According to an interview with the Bay Area News Group’s John Hickey, A’s general manager Billy Beane does not expect Jesse Hahn to return from his flexor tendon injury anytime soon.

With the young righty, acquired from San Diego in the Derek Norris deal in the offseason, shelved for a significant period of time, the A’s rotation is now Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Kendall Graveman, Jesse Chavez and either Drew Pomeranz filling in as a spot starter or another call-up for Chris Bassitt. With the trade deadline looming at the end of the month, it’s almost guaranteed that Kazmir will be out of that equation and pitching for another club come August.

Bassitt, in 8 games (3 starts), has compiled a 2.93 ERA with 17 punchouts over 27.2 innings. The sophomore righty has started in his last three consecutive outings, going 5 innings or more in all three starts. He’s surrendered 5 earned runs over 17 innings as a starter, striking out 9 while walking just a pair batters. The 26-year-old hurler came to the A’s in the offseason deal that shipped Jeff Samardzija to the Chicago White Sox, with Rangel Ravelo also coming to Oakland in the deal.

The absence of Hahn, who has compiled a 6-6 record with a 3.35 earned run average this year, hurts more due to its timing. The Oakland A’s open the second half of the season facing the Minnesota Twins for three games at O.Co Coliseum. The Twins are riding a three-game winning streak and are looking to add to their four-game wild card lead.

Once the resilient Twins leave town, the Toronto Blue Jays potent offense comes to Oakland. The Jays are trying to gain ground on the Yankees in a wide-open American League East. After that, the A’s “travel” across the Bay for the Bay Bridge series before facing the National League West leaders the Los Angeles Dodgers in Southern California.

Sonny Days No More? Why Trading Sonny Gray Makes Sense for Oakland

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

The Oakland Athletics have officially become Sonny Gray’s team. No player donning the Green and Gold will mean more to his team’s success and no individual in Oakland’s 25-man roster has an equal skillset and pedigree as the 25-year-old ace. That makes it all the easier to trade the fire-balling Commodore out of Vanderbilt University striking while the iron is blazing atop the hot stove that is the Major League Baseball trade deadline.

The 18th overall pick in the draft elevated his stock greatly with a first half performance that puts him in the American League Cy Young Award conversation with the White Sox Chris Sale and Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros. He earned his first All-Star appearance in just his second full season this year on the back of a 10-3 record and a scant 2.04 earned run average.

In his last outing, the Nashville, TN native fired a complete-game, one-hit shutout of the Cleveland Indians. It was the kind of outing that Gray’s become known for, with every fifth day becoming winning day for the Division cellar-dwelling A’s. Any chance the A’s have at making up the 8.5 games they trail the AL West leader Los Angeles Angels comes with Gray winning at least two-thirds of his go-arounds as July rolls to October.

Of course, the A’s have struggled all season to remain relevant, so in all likelihood, they will be sellers (is Billy Beane ever not considered a threat to sell?) by the end of the month. Scott Kazmir could certainly pry some decent prospects from a team looking for pitching depth. Ben Zobrist will return a blue-chipper despite being a career .264 with only one season of more than 20 homers under his belt. But Gray, Gray’s ransom could fill the cupboards of a team twice over.

The biggest hurdle in dealing Gray is the fact that he’s technically under team control until 2020, with his arbitration years set to kick in in 2017. The A’s proved in the offseason that they’re not afraid to deal away a player under club control with a bright future, dealing Josh Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays before having to sign him to the big money no player gets in Oakland.

Gray’s contract status immediately makes him a better haul for a playoff hopeful team than the mercenary options being floated around at the trailing end of deals like Johnny Cueto or Mat Latos. A team like the cash-strapped Los Angeles Dodgers could easily handle Gray’s arbitration figure and may even jump to extend him to a long-term deal well before the expiration of his contract. With that luxury, here’s where the A’s need to play hardball.

In the offseason, Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was criticized for demanding teams like the Dodgers or Boston Red Sox offer up two or three can’t-miss prospects for Cole Hamels, another pitcher locked up beyond this season. If the Phillies could get Boston to entertain the idea of sending over Blake Swihart, Mookie Betts and Henry Owens, why couldn’t Billy Beane try to pry the same deal (or better) for a player who younger than Hamels and will come with a cheaper price tag?

The obvious fit is dealing with the Dodgers, who would become locks to win the World Series if they could lock down a rotation of reigning Most Valuable Player Clayton Kershaw and All-Star starting pitcher Zack Greinke along with Gray. In return, the A’s could potentially pull in A+ prospects like shortstop Corey Seager and starter Julio Urias (though perhaps they’d have to throw in Kazmir or Zobrist to sweeten the pot). Plug them in with the emerging Oakland talents of players like Kendall Graveman, Marcus Semien and Billy Burns and the prospects in the pipeline in Matt Olson, Renato Nunez and Sean Nolin and suddenly you’d have a core five years from now with potential All-Stars at every position.

The reality is that the Angels window for success is coming to an end, and the Astros is just beginning to open with young stars like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer and Dallas Keuchel being just a few of the names that litter the talent-rich organization’s depth charts. The A’s meanwhile would need a significant free-agent signing to be competitive now and in the immediate future. By the team they’ll see dividends on the current minor leaguers could very well be after 2017 when Gray will make the big bucks. So why not move Gray now and add more pieces for the run to come in a few seasons?

Everyone in the A’s organization has been adamant that Gray is off limits, but why suddenly make a player untouchable? With 5 of 7 Oakland All-stars from 2015 dealt since last July, it’s pretty clear that even the best of the best are available to depart from Alameda County. In fact, perhaps this is a move by Oakland brass to raise the price even higher. Who doesn’t covet what they’ve been told they can’t have?

It’s a longshot of a scenario, one that certainly might not play out considering there are rumblings that the A’s may be buyers and sellers at the deadline. With Beane at the helm, one thing is for certain; never say never.

Walk-Off Wins Back In Vogue at the O.Co Coliseum

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

OAKLAND, Calif. – As a rain washed through the Bay Area, temporarily easing the minds of dried out Californians, 25 athletes found solace from a few droughts of their own. The Oakland A’s snapped their four-game losing streak, outlasting a dominant Yovani Gallardo start to walk off against the Rangers bullpen 5-4. The much maligned A’s bullpen pitched 5 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball, struggling Billy Butler contributed with a big hit and Oakland became the Walk-off Capital of the World for the first time in 2015.

“Things are starting to go our way right now,” said A’s starter Jesse Hahn. “Hopefully it’s a big momentum changer for us.”

After an eighth-inning rally tied the game for the A’s (24-37), a ninth-inning surge put Oakland back in the win column. Sam Fuld, struggling with a batting average below .200, singled to open the inning, then swiped second base. After a Billy Burns infield single, Josh Reddick stepped up to the plate with a chance to win the game. He laced a bouncer off losing pitcher Keone Kela (4-3, 2.42 ERA) to a drawn in second baseman Adam Rosales for the walk-off fielder’s choice and a shaving cream pie from Stephen Vogt.

“We used to specialize in those here for a while,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “It’s nice to come back from 4-2 and tie it, then come back and score another run.”

On Tuesday, the A’s struggled to score until the starter was long removed from the equation but Wednesday Oakland jumped on Gallardo early in a promising start. Billy Burns started the inning on second base after Joey Gallo’s throwing error, moved to third on Josh Reddick’s single then came home on Ben Zobrist’s fielder’s choice.

Staked to an early lead, Hahn found his way into the A’s history books for the wrong reasons Wednesday. The righty plunked 3 batters over a brief 3 2/3 innings, becoming the 9th Athletic to serve up a triple beanball performance. He was touched up for 4 runs, including a 3-run third inning where the Rangers batted around despite only collecting three hits in the frame. Hahn plunked two batters and issued a free pass in his struggling to retire the Rangers in the 3rd.

“I just didn’t have my stuff,” said Hahn. “It was one of those weird outings, no fastball command, no feel for the breaking ball. When you don’t have that it’s hard to pitch well at this level.”

In his previous four outings, Hahn had allowed only 8 earned runs over 27 1/3 innings. In his penultimate outing, the 25-year-old pitch a complete game shutout in Detroit. Tuesday marked the first time all season he failed to pitch a full 5 innings, a stretch spanning 10 starts.

“It’s frustrasting because I was confident going out there,” said Hahn. “I was confident I’d put up good numbers again. It happens. It’s one of the weird ones. I’ve already forgotten about it. I have to let it go and move on to the next one.”

Oakland cut the lead in half in the bottom of the 4th, with Stephen Vogt opening the inning with the first A’s hit since the first inning. Vogt doubled to open the inning, then moved over to third base on a wild pitch with one out. He came around to score on Brett Lawrie’s grounder to short to put Oakland back within a pair of runs at 4-2.

Gallardo settled down after that, giving the Rangers their second-straight six-plus inning, two-run start against the A’s. The 29-year-old righty fired seven innings, picking up a season-high 10 strikeouts. Of his 110 pitches, an astounding 73 went for strikes.

Over 12 starts this year, the hard-tossing Gallardo has yet to allow more than four runs. Despite his consistent performances, he’s currently tied for 5th in the American League with a Texas-leading 6 losses. While he wasn’t tagged with the loss, Gallardo had to settle for a no-decision after his bullpen squandered the two-run advantage.

Oakland scored two runs in an inning for the first time in 24 innings in the eight, the first inning of work for the Rangers bullpen. Josh Reddick singled off southpaw Sam Freeman with one out, then Zobrist welcomed Tanner Scheppers into the game with a base-hit to right field. With the throw coming to third to try to cut down Reddick, Zobrist advanced to second on the play. Rangers third baseman Joey Gallo overthrew the ball, allowing Reddick to score easily. Vogt walked, bringing DH Billy Butler to the plate.

Over his last 10 games, “Country Breakfast” was hitting at a slim .179 batting average with only 7 hits and 3 RBIs over 39 at-bats. The big man came through in the clutch Wednesday, connecting on the game-tying single to plate Zobrist.

“A lot of times it’s a hit like that that’ll get you going,” said Melvin. “It’ll loosen you up a little bit. He finally found a hole.”

Lawrie popped out for the second out and Max Muncy gave a Scheppers offering a ride, but right fielder Shin-Soo Choo pulled in the ball with his back against the fence.

The comeback wouldn’t have been possible without contributions from the bullpen. Pat Venditte (2 1/3 innings), Fernando Abad (1) and Evan Scribner (1) combined for 4 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball, while Tyler Clippard (1-3, 3.20) picked up his first win of the season after pitching a scoreless ninth.

“That’s probably the key to the game,” said Melvin. “What Venditte did was terrific. Fernando Abad coming in and contributing, having an easy inning. The whole bullpen was probably the key to the game.”

The A’s now have a chance to win the series with Scott Kazmir squaring off against rookie Chi Chi Gonzalez in Thursday’s finale. If they manage to win the series, it’ll be the first time in six series since the Rangers (31-28) were on the losing end.

Martinez Out-duels Gray, A’s Drop Fourth-Straight Game

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew T.F. Harrington

OAKLAND, Calif. – The dark days have returned for the Oakland Athletics. Mired amongst the dredges of the American League cellar, the A’s find themselves fading once again after an 2-1 loss to the visiting Texas Rangers Tuesday night at O.Co Coliseum. Nick Martinez topped Sonny Gray, while Shawn Tolleson pitched a scoreless ninth for his 8th save of the season.

“There’s a lot of frustration,” said Melvin. “There’s a lot of things going. We lost a lot of one run games. It’s not uncommon to want to press because of it. When you don’t come through and you have opportunities, it’s frustrating.”

Oakland (23-37) has now dropped four-straight contests following a weekend sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox. Prior to that series, the A’s were turning a corner. They swept long-time nemesis Detroit in convincing fashion before moving further East to Boston.

“We have to look at the big picture,” said A’s catcher Stephen Vogt. “We’re 9 of our last 15. We have to keep that perspective, that attitude. We played really well the last half of the home stand and in Detroit.”

If any could have put the A’s back on the winning track, it’d have been the pitcher on the hill Tuesday night. Sonny Gray (7-3, 1.74 ERA) grabbed the ball to open the three-game set, and despite a well-pitched effort, wound up the loser in tightly-contested pitching battle. The A’s stranded nine runners against the second-place Rangers (31-27).

“We had some opportunities,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “We didn’t get the one big hit when we needed to. That’s usually the case when you have close games like that.”

Despite Gray’s best efforts, the Rangers struck first in the third inning. Delino DeShields jetted his way to a one-out triple with a wall ball to right centerfield, but Shin-Soo Choo succumbed to Gray’s best offerings with a swinging strikeout. Prince Fielder bested the AL’s ERA leader in the next at-bat, blooping a flare between Marcus Semien and left fielder Ben Zobrist.

The A’s found themselves in a similar situation in the bottom of the fourth after Josh Reddick broke up Martinez’ no-hit bid. The A’s right fielder lead off the frame with a double then scooted to third on Ben Zobrist’s warning track pop-out.

With only one out and the heart of the order due up, Oakland looked sure to tie the contest up. Instead Stephen Vogt grounded out into a drawn-in infield, then Billy Butler followed suit with a slow bouncer up the middle to strand Reddick at third.

The A’s would load the bases with two outs the following inning despite collecting a single hit after Martinez hit Mark Canha, walked Semien and mishandled a Billy Burns squibber for an error. Reddick couldn’t cash in the run though, instead rolling out to second base.

Mitch Moreland punished the Athletics for not converting in the next half-inning, scorching a 2-1 Gray offering halfway up Mt. Davis to open up the top of the sixth. Moreland’s 7th dinger of the year, the 21st run batted in of the season, doubled the Rangers lead 2-0.

Gray would close out the sixth before turning the contest over to the bullpen. Gray threw 95 pitches in his six-inning outing, striking out six Texas batters while issuing a sole free pass but wound up the hard-luck loser due to a sputtering offense.

“I thought he threw the ball well,” said Melvin. “He gives up the bloop hit then Moreland scores the one run. You give up two runs and that’s a bad game? I’ll take that it any day.”

On many nights, Gray’s showing would be enough to top many a league’s ace. Not Tuesday though, as Martinez locked down on the bump. The 24-year-old threw a near flawless six innings, surrendering only one hit while walking one and hitting another batter.

“He cuts it, curveball, sinks it, late movement on the changeup,” said Melvin of the opposing starter. “He pitches backward when he has to. For the last year and a half or so he’s been one of the better pitchers in the American League.”

“He did a good job of keeping us off balance,” added Vogt. “He’s having a great year. He knows how to pitch. He’s an athlete.”

Once Martinez (5-2, 2.65) departed, the A’s saw an opening, winding up with runners on 2nd and 3rd against the Rangers bullpen with two down in the seventh. Again, A’s base runners would be denied the final 90 feet, as Rangers reliever Ross Detwiler coaxed a strikeout of pinch-hitter Josh Phegley after issuing three-straight balls to open the at-bat., b

“Phegley’s hitting .333 against lefties,” said Melvin. “It’s not often that I’ll hit for Reddick. You have to do what you the best you can in the situation. Phegley’s been swinging really goo

The A’s broke the shutout in the eighth after Zobrist, struggling to a .205 average this year while recently returning from injury, opened the inning with a liner to left field that DeShields misjudged into a double.  Another struggling hitter, Vogt, plated Zobrist on a single to center to put the A’s on the ledger.

On a night where the A’s struggled to score in general, even an easy RBI single turned into a struggle. The strong-armed Leonys Martin fielded Vogt’s liner and fired a rocket to home plate that skipped past the cutoff man right to catcher Robinson Chirinos. Zobrist was past Chironos, but didn’t slide, allowing the Rangers catcher to attempt a swipe tag. Zobrist was ruled safe, a hair ahead of the tag. Texas manager Jeff Banister challenged the play, but the call stood to cut the Rangers edge 2-1.

Oakland fans who chose to skip over game 3 of the NBA Finals had little to be excited for, but they were treated to a special moment. Switch pitcher Pat Venditte made his O.Co debut, warming up from both sides of the mound before firing off a 1-2-3 inning. He faced three righties, electing to pitch from the right side for all three.

“Like every inning we’ve seen from him, whether it’s here or in spring training, he’s focused,” said Melvin. “He’s confident. You know you’re going to get your match-up. He’s having a real good time, his first time in the Big Leagues. There can be some nerves involved but he’s showing it hasn’t bothered him. He’s having a great time and he’s pitching well on top of it.”

Oakland turns to another starter capable of turning in a gem, Jesse Hahn, for game 2 Wednesday night. He’ll be opposed by Yovani Gallardo, the Rangers offseason acquisition meant to be the complement to the now-injured Yu Darvish at the front of their rotation.

Rangers Deny A’s Celebration, Make Game 162 A Must-Win

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew T.F. Harrington

The celebration of clinching a playoff spot will have to wait another day for the Oakland Athletics following a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park. The defeat, mixed with a walk-off Seattle Mariners win later in the evening, means the A’s (87-74) will now need to win or have the Mariners lose in the season finale Sunday to clinch a spot in the one-game Wild Card playoff and a date with the runner-up of the American League Central. The Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals already clinched a playoff berths while boasting identical records, but must use the final day of the regular season to decide who will win the AL Central and who will host the Wild Card game Tuesday.

Oakland starter Jeff Samardzija (7-13, 2.99 ERA) suffered the loss after allowing five runs over seven innings despite striking out nine Rangers. The A’s Josh Donaldson hit his 29th home run of the season, while Jake Smolinski and Robinson Chirinos went deep for last-place Texas (67-94). Spencer Patton (1-0, 0.96) picked up his first career win, while Neftali Feliz nailed down his 13th save of the season at home.

Donaldson, whose status was in doubt after aggravating a knee injury Friday night, opened the game with a solo shot off Rangers starter spot starter Scott Baker in the first inning, but Texas struck back with run scoring singles by Rougned Odor and Adrian Beltre in the bottom half of the frame for a 2-1 lead for their surprise starter.

Smolinski took Samardzija deep in the fourth for a 3-1 edge, but Oakland pulled within one after Nate Freiman’s double play off reliever Alex Claudio scored Josh Reddick.

Chirinos extended the lead in the seventh inning after his two-run homer off Samardzija. The A’s then came back in the next half inning with a pair of RBI singles by Reddick and Jed Lowrie off Roman Mendez. On Reddick’s single, Jonny Gomes managed to just beat out the tag on a play at the plate. Rangers interim manager Tim Bogar challenged the play, but the call of safe originally made on the field was upheld.

The Rangers are expected to send Saturday’s planned starter, Ace Derek Holland, to the mound Sunday looking to take the A’s postseason fate out of their own hands. The left-hander missed his regularly scheduled start after migraines derailed his ability to make the start. Manager Bob Melvin will tab the A’s Opening Day starter Sonny Gray with game 162 duties.